


A Measure of Malleability

by cobalamincosel



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gym AU, Kissing, M/M, Meet-Cute, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 11:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18120311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cobalamincosel/pseuds/cobalamincosel
Summary: Jung Jaehyun, 27, single, lawyer, father to one shih tzu and two plants, and self-confessed gym rat, thinks that he's content with his life until he meets his new gym instructor, Johnny Suh, who makes him rethink his fairly rigid routine and his idea of happiness.





	A Measure of Malleability

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this was admittedly inspired by [this fucking video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoORQR7SrYs&t=60s) that I honestly have not been able to finish watching because seeing Jaehyun working out was giving me hives because he is so beautiful.
> 
> But then it turned into uhhhh soft territory. 
> 
> This is for all the JJ stans on my tl. I love you guys. You keep me young.

Jaehyun likes to think he’s a pretty healthy sort of guy. He tries to cut back on his sugar, he always makes sure to get vegetables and protein into his daily diet plan, and he always goes to the gym. He ignores it when Doyoung invites him out and Jaehyun has to politely decline, and his best friend accuses him of being a gym rat, like it’s a bad thing, since he knows that to Doyoung, sleep outweighs every other possible activity, except maybe sex with Taeyong. Maybe.

Jaehyun takes his body seriously because he likes having control over it-- it’s his way of centering himself when everything else at work and real life make him feel off-kilter. One time, he had told Taeyong that he was his best self when he was at the gym, and Taeyong had stared at him for a good 30 seconds, before gently patting him on the arm in a placating, patronising sort of way.

It’s fine.

Jaehyun knows that sometimes he can take it a little too far, like when he decided to start going to the gym wearing Vibram Five fingers and Yuta had told him that he wasn’t gonna work out with Jaehyun anymore if he was gonna keep wearing them around him.

His co-workers tell him that he needs to let loose more, because he tends to overwork himself when he’s at the firm, hunched over papers and his laptop, squinting behind the glasses that he knows he’s supposed to be wearing 24/7 for his astigmatism but only using them when his head starts throbbing.

Jaehyun surmises that he is this way to make up for the fact that he spent so much time in college just fucking around, and when he passed the bar exam, it had been the biggest sort of wake up call for him to start getting his life together.

Okay so _maybe_ he’s a little uptight. He likes order now that he’s older-- he shudders when he thinks about the mess his dorm room used to be when he was juggling Constitutional Law and a job at the university coffee shop.

He likes his creature comforts, his schedules. He loves the routine of weekend meal preps and doing the laundry and getting work done, and yes, he loves the routine of driving over to the gym near his house after finishing up a case or coming in after court when he can.

He’s got a trainer, Lucas, who he’s been working with for a couple of months now, and Jaehyun’s used to his style so he appreciates when they work together and Lucas shows him a new set of exercises to do for the day.

Lucas is sweet, and endearing, and Jaehyun maybe sort of has a tiny, tiny crush on him, even though he knows that Lucas has a boyfriend and that Mark often comes by to pick him up after his shift at the gym is over.

Tonight, Lucas is helping spot Jaehyun while he does his third set of chin-ups when Lucas makes the announcement that he’s leaving the gym. Jaehyun falters at chin-up number 12 and lands on his feet softly.

“Bro, what?” Jaehyun says, turning to Lucas. His mind is racing, because apart from worrying about who will train him if Lucas isn’t around, he’s also mourning the loss of having a friendly face to meet up and unwind with when he’s in his favourite place in the city.

(Jaehyun tries not to think too much about the fact that he genuinely does feel like his gym is the best place in the city. It’s kind of sad.)

“Well,” Lucas blushes furiously. He holds his hand out and that’s when Jaehyun sees a platinum band with a single sapphire in it. “Mark proposed to me, and I said yes, and we’d been talking about moving back to his hometown in Canada so we’re preparing for that.”

 Jaehyun’s insides feel like goo, because he is 27 after all, and most of his colleagues are either settled down with wives and husbands or in long-term relationships, and here Lucas was, getting ready for the next big step in his life.

 What did Jaehyun have?

 Jaehyun stutters out a “Oh, oh, that’s really great Lucas! I’m really happy for you,” and he is. He really is. Except that he can’t help the punch in the gut that he feels when he remembers that when he goes home to his two-bedroom, he only has his little shih tzu Nala, and two plants waiting for him. No husband, no boyfriend.

 Don’t get him wrong: he is happy and he is content. He gets his bills paid on time, he does his own taxes, he lives extremely comfortably, and coming home to Nala wagging her tail makes every hard day worth it.

 But still. It would be nice to make a meal for two, to settle on the couch and argue about what movie to watch, to have someone big and strong and tall to—

 “Don’t worry though, someone is coming in to replace me tomorrow. I’ll be training him, and I’ll make sure that he takes you on as a client,” Lucas says, checking his iPad for the next set of exercises he’s got planned for the evening. “He’s a good friend of Mark’s, too! So I trust him to work well with you.”

 Jaehyun doesn’t doubt it, and they spend the next hour focusing more on Jaehyun’s cardio, with Lucas running him through drills and laughing at him when he gets winded.

 At the end of their session, he thumps Lucas on the back to thank him.

 “Dude, you’re the best. Like legitimately the best. I’m gonna miss you a lot,” Jaehyun says, already dreading whoever he’s going to have to readjust to after Lucas leaves.

 He hopes that the new trainer will at least be willing to make sure that Jaehyun’s goals are met. The last trainer he had had at a different gym before finally finding Lucas in this one had been big, and burly, and had also been low-key homophobic once Jaehyun had mentioned that he didn’t have a girlfriend, nor was he interested in women at all.

 Lucas pulls him in for a hug, sweat and smiles and all, and says, “Bro, we’re gonna stay in touch yeah? And I haven’t left yet! Don’t act like I’m leaving tonight. We’ll get together too, before we leave. Mark insisted.”

 “Mark did?” Jaehyun says, surprised, since most of his interactions with Lucas’ boyfr— fiancée, now— have been just little chats when he’s pulled up to the gym front.

 “Yeah man, we’re friends! We’re having a going away party, I’ll let you know when we’ve got the venue and all,” Lucas says, flashing him a blinding smile, teeth glinting in the white fluorescent light.

 “I’ll be there. I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jaehyun says, packing up his duffel bag and slinging it over his shoulder. “See you, man. Thanks for tonight.”

 -

 Jaehyun arrives at the gym a little earlier than usual since Chanyeol said that the pleading he had drafted was good, and said he could take the night off, so that’s how Jaehyun finds himself walking over to the lockers and shoving his gym bag into one of them, when he catches perhaps the most beautiful man he has ever seen, inside and out of a gym, like, ever.

 He is so, so tall, and he is so, so beautiful, and he has this dark chestnut-coloured hair that falls over his eyes, and Jaehyun feels like his entire world is being controlled somehow because the noise of weights dropping and people grunting fade into this melodic sort of violin music, and the man in question looks like he’s throwing his head back at half the usual speed a normal person would move in as he drinks from his tumbler, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows. Jaehyun kind of wants to lick his neck.

 “Jaehyun, bro,” Lucas’ voice breaks Jaehyun from his reverie, a massive hand clapping him on the shoulder from behind. “Just the guy I was looking for!”

 Jaehyun is still stunned, trying to keep an eye on the man he had been staring at, while trying to focus on what Lucas is saying, except Lucas is pushing him closer to Mr. McHottie, and Jaehyun’s feet are moving of their own volition, until Lucas turns to him, toothy smile and all, and says, “Jaehyun, this is Johnny!”

 Johnny.

 Johnny, who looks about 6 foot 2 at least, so tall even Jaehyun has to crane his neck up a bit to look him in his honey-brown eyes. Johnny, whose eyes have laugh lines in the corners. Johnny, who is reaching his hand out to Jaehyun.

 Jaehyun, who is staring at said outstretched hand, not knowing with to do with it for three entire seconds until he mentally kicks himself and takes it with his own to give a firm shake.

 “Johnny, this is Jaehyun,” Lucas says to the Adonis in front of them. “He’s the one I was telling you about.”

 Johnny’s laugh lines crinkle so much more when he smiles, and Jaehyun feels sort of weak in the knees for a bit. He feels kind of lovestruck, which means that he promptly starts to lowkey freak out internally, because he hasn’t felt this way since the first time he realised he liked boys, and that was in second year high school.

 “Only good things, I hope,” Jaehyun says, a small blush rushing to his cheeks, hand burning from where Johnny’s skin had made contact with his.

 “You’re my favourite client, you know it is only ever good things, man,” Lucas replies. “It’s great you’re here tonight too, I was thinking I could maybe guide Johnny through the program I’ve made for you, and see whether you two jive okay, how about that?”

 Jaehyun and Johnny glance at each other to share a look, and it’s a bashful, shy one. Lucas looks extremely pleased with himself, and he herds them off to the free weights to begin the evening’s session.

 -

 “Hey, babe,” Lucas says, Mark’s responding “Hey bub,” clear in his ear after he picks the phone up.

 “How’d it go?” Mark asks, voice excited. Lucas looks around to make sure Jaehyun is out of earshot before responding.

 “I think you’ve got a real talent for matchmaking,” Lucas says, laughing as he re-adjusts his grip on his gym bag, and heads out to wait for his fiancee to pick him up.

 -

Jaehyun gets home well past 11 in the evening, his hands shaking when he turns the doorknob to his apartment.

 Nala is by the door, her tail wagging, standing on her hind paws and demanding that he picks her up.

 “Okay, okay, I’m home,” he says as she licks his face, her brown hair getting into his mouth and his eye in her excitement. “I’m sorry, I know I was out so long, it won’t happen again.”

 He sets the little pup down and she scurries off into the kitchen where she knows he’s going to go to next.

 Jaehyun’s cheeks hurt. He hasn’t stopped smiling since getting back from the gym.

 Johnny was… charming. Apparently, he had finished sports science in college, and had recently just moved into the city, so many things about it were still new to him.

 Johnny was more than capable of outdoing him in the gym, too, pulling more reps and lifting more weight than Jaehyun could. He took to Lucas’ job like a fish takes to water, and it eases a lot of Jaehyun’s worry that his routine is going to be shot to hell.

 And Johnny seemed to genuinely be interested in what Jaehyun had to say, even if most of it was him just rattling off about his job, and asking Johnny about diet plans that he thought would be best suited for Jaehyun. Johnny was more than happy to explain what intermittent fasting was and how it was done, and how a ketogenic diet versus one that cut carbohydrates would outweigh the other.

 It’s strange, Jaehyun thinks, as he pulls out some quinoa to get boiling on the stove, that he feels this giddy over meeting Johnny after spending only two hours with him.

 It is not that Jaehyun hasn’t tried dating— it’s just that things had never really stuck. He and Doyoung had attempted to date, back in their first year, but when it became clear that they wanted different things out of the relationship, him wanting something light while Doyoung was talking about introducing Jaehyun  to his parents after their third date, they decided that they were better as best friends than anything else.

 He had thought that he and Jungwoo were going to make it, and they had for about two years, but when his career had taken off, and Jungwoo had decided to take up his masters abroad, they both knew that trying to maintain a long-distance relationship was not something would make either of them happy.

 They talk still, weekly in fact, but it has been years since Jaehyun has had any semblance of a stable, long-term relationship, and even longer since he’s felt like a schoolboy with a crush.

 He realises, looking around at his home, Nala lapping up water from her bowl by his feet, that it is high time he’s broken out of his comfort zone and tried to get out there again.

 Maybe Johnny might be it, he hopes.

 -

 Text Message

Thu, Mar 8, 1:38 PM

[unknown number]

Hey, is this Jaehyun? It’s Johnny. 😊

 Jaehyun pulls up the new message and has to fight down the stupid flutter in his heart when he sees whose text it is.

 Thu, Mar 8, 1:40 PM

[Jaehyun]:

Hey Johnny, yep, you’ve got the right man! What’s up?

 Jaehyun saves his contact immediately, adding a little weightlifting emoji next to Johnny’s name.

 Thu, Mar 8, 1:41 PM

[Johnny 🏋🏽]:

Perfect. I was just wondering if I should be expecting you at the gym later?

 Jaehyun sits up straighter in his chair, completely aware than he’s flushed from head to toe just from a single exchange.

 Thu, Mar 8,1:43 pm

[Jaehyun]:

Yes, I’ll be there. I’ll see you soon, Johnny. :)

 Jaehyun hits send, and he can’t help the butterflies that dance around inside of him when Johnny says, “I’m looking forward to it! 😄”

 It feels very much like the rush of something new and exciting, even if Jaehyun has no idea what way Johnny swings, or if he’s even interested in Jaehyun at all.

 There’s a knock on the glass door to his office, and Doyoung is standing there, leaning against the frame, his eyebrow raised and a smirk in place.

 “What’s with the face?” Doyoung asks, arms crossed over his chest.

 “Nothing,” Jaehyun sing-songs, locking his phone and firmly ignoring the little cat sticker Johnny has sent him in response to his own “So am I, Johnny. 😊”

 “I’ve known you for over a decade, and you expect me to believe that something that has you smiling at your phone like that is ‘nothing’? I’m a little hurt, Jae,” Doyoung says, finally striding in and taking a seat on the cushy leather chair near Jaehyun’s desk.

 “Oh my god, you’re really going to pull that card,” Jaehyun says, rolling his eyes. “Fine. There’s a guy—“

 “I knew it!” Doyoung claps his hands together, and Jaehyun can already see him in his mind’s eye heading back to Taeyong with intel. “Who is he? How did you meet? Is he hot? Is he huge? Is he nice? He better be nice.”

 Jaehyun raises his hands to placate Doyoung, who looks poised to pounce the moment he gets a name.

 “Can you please calm down, it isn't anything. I _literally_ only just met him,” Jaehyun says. “And I don’t even know if he’s into men, or into me for that matter.”

 “Who is he though? I’m dying to know, please, you haven’t dated anyone properly since Jungwoo and that was literally a century ago.”

 “You are so dramatic, I don’t know why I put up with you.”

 “You used to really like how I sucked you off, and then you sold your soul to me,” Doyoung replies, shrugging and leaning back in his seat. “It is basic science, Yoonoh.”

 Jaehyun sputters, baffled at how Doyoung’s sharp tongue can still catch him off guard after ten years of being in his company.

 “Fine,” he starts. “He’s Johnny Suh, and he’s my— well, he’s my gym trainer.”

 Jaehyun can tell the exact moment his words register to Doyoung, and he can also pinpoint the exact gear that locks into place when Doyoung leers at him with a raised eyebrow. Jaehyun sighs. Here come the jokes.

 “Well, in any case, I really do hope he’s nice,” Doyoung says instead.

 There’s a record scratch that goes off in Jaehyun’s head.

 “Wait, what?”

 “What?”

 “You’re not gonna tease me, or saying anything about him working my body or whatever?” Jaehyun asks, not used to Doyoung not ribbing him for something.

 Doyoung lets out a laugh, and leans in closer to the hardwood desk.

 “You are my best friend and one-time lover and favourite colleague but don’t tell Kun that, so I can read you like an open book, and like I said, I’ve never seen you look at your phone like that unless you’re watching a video of puppies, so I’m not gonna make fun of you just yet,” Doyoung says.

 “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some searching online to do,” he adds, unlocking his own phone and keying in “Johnny Seo” in the search bar of his browser.

 “Ooh, he’s got an Instagram account,” he says, scrolling through and turning it towards Jaehyun, who takes his phone and sits in awe.

 Johnny is talented, or at least, that’s what his account makes him seem like. There are photos with descriptions about the film and cameras he’s used, photos of dusky skies and people in motion on a crosswalk and a shot of a tree’s branches suspended in time from a breeze blowing through.

 He picks a video that’s dated a month prior, and it’s a shot of hands on piano keys.

 The audio loads quickly, and then Johnny’s voice is filtering in through the phone’s speakers.

 “Hey guys, I haven’t done a cover in a while so I thought to post this one up. I don’t have a special someone, but wherever he is, wherever he might be right now, this one’s for him,” his voice says before placing his hands on the keys, and pressing down and singing.

 “What song is this?” Doyoung asks, not quite familiar with it since it’s in English.

 “Location Unknown, by Honne,” Jaehyun replies absentmindedly.

 Jaehyun feels his fingers go numb, the butterflies full force, because apart from recognising the song, Jaehyun hears the pronouns Johnny had used.

 “Did you hear that?” Jaehyun asks, needing confirmation. “He said ‘he’, right? He said ‘him’?”

 Doyoung takes his phone back to get a better listen as the video loops, and nods in affirmation.

 “Well that answers one of your questions, then,” Doyoung says, winking at his friend.

 “Be gone, demon, leave my office immediately,” Jaehyun laughs, trying very, very hard to ignore the blush he knows is rushing from below his neckline at the knowledge that Johnny, for all intents and purposes, is also into men.

 Maybe he does have a shot.

 -

 Johnny is talking to a lady who looks nervous about being in the gym at all when Jaehyun spots him, and he hangs back a bit to give them space. The movement catches Johnny’s eye however, and Johnny turns a quick smile over to him before going back to the conversation with his other client, who is nodding along while he presses some buttons on the treadmill.

 Jaehyun busies himself with some warm-ups, jogging in place before moving into jumping jacks. He can see Johnny coming over to him from the reflection in the mirror, and when he does arrive, Jaehyun is already a little winded.

 “Hi Jaehyun,” Johnny says, his voice deep and pleasant. Jaehyun wants to sort of wrap it around himself, if he could. “Sorry about that, I didn’t know you’d be arriving early tonight.”

 Jaehyun bites the inside of his cheek. He had driven over as soon as work was done for the day, nearly running a stop sign in his haste— he had a beautiful man to get to, after all.

 “Yeah, no, just wanted to maximise our time together,” Jaehyun says easily, before realising what he’s just said, and then both he and Johnny are sporting matching splotches of pink on their cheeks.

 “You don’t have to worry, I’m kind of here to stay,” Johnny laughs, and now Jaehyun doesn’t know if he means stay at the gym or stay— with him, but he can’t just be imagining this, right? Johnny is flirting with him, right?

 It turns out that Lucas has taken the night off, and it’ll just be Johnny and Jaehyun for the session. Johnny asks Jaehyun if workout goals have changed since he first started working with Lucas, and Jaehyun has to think about that, to reassess where he is now versus where he was months ago. It depresses him slightly that he had just gotten so used to having gone through the motions that if Johnny hadn’t asked, he wouldn’t have thought to re-evaluate himself.

 “Well, when I started working out a couple of years back, I wanted to shed the weight I put on after law school and studying for the bar exam. When I accomplished that, I just wanted something to do you know, something to keep me focused,” Jaehyun replies, taking a seat on the mat laid out in front of the free weights.

 “I guess now, endurance would be the next frontier for me, and I suppose I would like to build a little more muscle,” Jaehyun says thoughtfully.

 Johnny’s leaning close to him, really keeping eye contact with him, and Jaehyun has to work extra hard to not let his eyes stray over to the biceps that are peeking out from Johnny’s dry fit sleeves.

 “Ok, do you have any plans of maybe competing in anything? Running a marathon? Becoming a powerlifter?” Johnny asks while opening up a blank page on his tablet to take notes.

 “Do I seem like the powerlifter type to you?” Jaehyun snorts, unable to imagine himself competing in anything really.

 “Not really,” Johnny says, his eyes half-moons. “But I thought to ask anyway.”

 “The marathon thing though, that sounds…pretty appealing. I’ve never done one before. Maybe that could be my goal.”

 Johnny nods, taking note of it on his tablet.

 “Okay, apart from that, is there anything else?”

 “I think that’s it really. I like coming here because it gives me a chance to just… work without thinking about it. I like how calm being here makes me feel.”

 Johnny hums in agreement, pushing his hair back with one hand as he sets his tablet down with the other.

 “I know exactly what you mean. Sports Sciences taught me a lot about the human body and the human condition, but you know, ironically enough, making my body move wasn’t something that came naturally to me. It was only when my psychiatrist suggested that I try do something more proactive did I consider getting certified by the College of Sports Medicine, but after I trained and prepared for that, and got my credentials, it felt right,” Johnny says, and Jaehyun-- well, he feels himself falling just the tiniest bit in love. “Being here makes me feel like I have control.”

 “I’m not a doctor the way my parents wanted, but I still get to help people, so I’m happy,” Johnny adds on, his little smile making the tiniest dimple appear next to his full lips.

 Jaehyun knows from this point on he’s fucked, because in a span of five minutes, Johnny has given him enough clues to piece together the kind of person he is, and all Jaehyun wants to do is keep talking to him, keep figuring him out. He hasn’t talked to anyone this candidly in a long time. Who else would divulge that they were seeing a therapist that easily? Who else would wax poetic about being in a gym with him apart from Johnny?

 “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to give you my life story just now,” Johnny says, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck and casting his gaze down, embarrassed, like this happens often, like he gets told off for oversharing. It makes Jaehyun’s heart clench.

 “No, it’s okay! I like hearing this, it’s nice,” Jaehyun says, flashing Johnny a smile and laying a hand on his shoulder. (Jaehyun firmly tells himself to ignore just how hard Johnny’s deltoid feels when he gives it a light squeeze.)

 Johnny gives him a small chuckle at that, and then moves to stand.

 “Okay, let’s get it,” he says, stretching up to his full height, arms over his head, the tiniest sliver of bare abdomen showing, before swinging down and bending his body in half to reach the floor. Jaehyun drools a little and has to swallow before clearing his throat and going, “Y-yeah, let’s do that.”

 Johnny makes him jog and then run 5 kilometers, which isn’t too difficult a feat for Jaehyun, and for the next hour, Jaehyun blocks off all the noise with his earphones and a song on loop to help him keep his pace.

 The rest of the night goes smoothly, and Jaehyun feels incredibly at peace, until Johnny says, “Alright, let’s stretch you out,” and then Jaehyun’s entire train of thought falls off like its been running on the treadmill, too.

 “Ex-excuse me?” Jaehyun says, staring up at Johnny, his mouth moving before his brain can process that Johnny did not mean it the way Jaehyun is thinking.

 “We don’t want you getting hurt and cramping up the rest of the week, so I’m gonna stretch you out?” Johnny responds, the most adorable confused look on his face coupled with mild concern.

 Oh. Jesus. His legs. That’s what Johnny meant.

 Jaehyun’s legs are shaky now, because that means that Johnny is going to be laying his hands on his body, and Jaehyun had spent the last two hours doing his absolute best to not pop a fucking boner everytime he caught Johnny working the room and bending over and flexing his stupid biceps and showing Jaehyun and his other clients how to do specific moves or re-adjusting their posture.

 Jaehyun considers maybe telling Johnny that he can stretch on his own, but considering that Lucas has always guided him through his stretches, including the previous evening’s, Jaehyun doesn’t exactly have an out.

 Johnny’s laying the mat down on the floor with a fresh towel that has the gym’s logo embroidered on it, and that’s what Jaehyun stares at when he’s laying face down on his belly, anticipating how Johnny’s hands will feel.

 Apparently, Jaehyun fails to prepare himself both mentally and physically for the onslaught of how good Johnny is at massages because he’s digging his thumbs into the dip of Jaehyun’s shoulder blades and is unsuccessful at suppressing a moan that tumbles from deep inside of him.

 Johnny pulls back but keeps his hands on Jaehyun, chuckling softly.

 “You’re really, really tense, Jae,” Johnny remarks, pressing with less pressure. Jaehyun notices the nickname immediately. “When was the last time you had a massage?”

 Jaehyun scans back, tries think of an answer, and comes up blank.

 “Uhhhh,” he starts, his cheek pressed into the towel. “I… don’t know actually.”

 When was the last time? Years, it seems. Back when Jungwoo had insisted they spend a weekend at a spa and got a couples room to themselves.

 Johnny then takes Jaehyun’s left leg and pulls it up to stretch it, and then bending it at the knee, flexing his foot inward and feeling the burn of all the running and jumping he had done.

 “You’re actually really flexible,” Johnny says, sounding mildly awestruck. “Did you used to do gymnastics or something?”

 Jaehyun blushes, remembering late night practices and that one time he nearly tore his anterior cruciate ligament before a pep rally.

 “Um, I used to be a cheerleader actually,” Jaehyun says, gritting his teeth through the burn of the stretch in his right leg. “I guess it just stuck.”

 “That’s cool,” Johnny says. “Put your hands behind your head and lock your fingers together.”

 Jaehyun complies, and then Johnny’s got both feet on either side of his torso, bending down to loop his hands through Jaehyun’s arms and then pulling him up to stretch his chest out.

 There’s a moment while Jaehyun’s suspended two feet off the ground where he thinks, “I would give anything for this man to manhandle me,” and he realises that that’s probably the thirstiest thought he’s had in probably a year, which is also how long it’s been since he and Yuta had fooled around a bit before Yuta started dating Sicheng. Jesus, he needed to get laid.

 Johnny sets him down and tells him to get on his back, and he does it in the lowest register possible, and Jaehyun feels himself twitch in interest, which truly does not bode well for him given that he’s wearing loose joggers right now and being a 27 year old tenting his pants in front of his hot gym trainer seems like the saddest possible cliche at the moment.

 He firmly resolves to Not Pop A Stiffie by thinking about Nala and the laundry he has to get done and the long work week he’s got coming, trying to remove himself mentally from the situation of one Johnny Suh currently stretching his hip joints by spreading his legs outward. It works, somewhat.

 By the end of it, Johnny is pulling Jaehyun up on his unsteady legs that now feel like taffy and jello, and he stumbles into Johnny’s arms, and makes contact with Johnny’s hard chest, and it is official: Jaehyun is living in a rom-com and he is the bumbling lead.

 Johnny huffs out a breath, and whispers, “Woah there,” before taking Jaehyun by the arms and setting him upright. “You okay?”

 Johnny’s eyes are sparkling. It doesn’t matter that they’re stood in the middle of a gym with bad white fluorescent lighting and it kind of smells like cheap air freshener and they’re both sweaty. Jaehyun is staring into honey-brown and he wants to get lost in them, so much so that he’s leaning up before he realises what he’s doing. It seems to keep happening to him tonight, and he pulls away from Johnny abruptly when it finally does register just how close he came to doing something unbelievably embarrassing.

 “Uhhhhh-” is all Jaehyun’s weak heart and weaker mind can seem to muster up, before Johnny is reaching out to brush Jaehyun’s hair out of his eyes, his bangs perpetually flopping over to cover them when he’s not wearing his headband to keep them in place.

 “Do you maybe wanna grab something to eat tonight?” Jaehyun blurts out, the question bubbling from inside his gut and forcing its way out of his mouth before his brain can get a hold of his tongue and lips to prevent them from forming the words.

 Johnny’s eyes widen, and then soften as he smiles.

 “I’d love to.”

 -

 Jaehyun’s heart is oddly calm considering that the man of his dreams is currently talking to him about photography, which Jaehyun knows nothing about, but it makes Johnny’s face light up when he asks things like “I’m sorry, what’s an ISO?”or “So how does shooting with film differ from shooting on digital when we have filters and post-production software now?”

 They’re walking towards Jaehyun’s car, and when Johnny settles his gym bag next to Jaehyun’s in the trunk, that’s when Jaehyun realises that he and Johnny have the same duffel bag, just in different colours, his a deep maroon, and Johnny’s a navy blue. Jaehyun stares at the two bags side by side for a few seconds, sitting in his trunk, and he’s punched in the gut by the sudden feeling of longing that comes through, the accompanying thought that he would like very much to have this man’s duffel bag next to his all the time from this point on.

 It’s still a little unclear whether Johnny knows that Jaehyun meant to ask him out on a date. Jaehyun suggests they get pho at 10 pm at this place that he loves, and Johnny claps his hands and says “I fucking love pho,” Jaehyun hopes that it’s clear enough, though pho for a first date didn’t exactly fall under the category of overly romantic.

 When they arrive at the little restaurant run by a Vietnamese couple that Jaehyun met a year ago, the husband, a really bright elderly man shuffles then into a corner where the air conditioning is directed towards them. It’s the best seat in the house, he says. Jaehyun thinks he’s adorable.

 They order a pho bò each, and tuck into their meal pretty quickly as soon as it’s served, sharing a plate of gỏi cuốn between them.

 “I actually um, saw your work on your Instagram yesterday,” Jaehyun says, dabbing his mouth with some tissue.

 Johnny looks taken aback, but pleasantly surprised.

 “Stalking me, are you?” Johnny’s teasing him, and it’s making Jaehyun flush under the collar again.

 “Just a little,” Jaehyun replies, trying to gather whatever game he may have had back when he still actually tried to put himself out there.

 “I may have done the same,” Johnny confesses, his ears tipped red. “I nearly liked a photo you posted a week ago, of your dog.”

 Jaehyun sits up in his seat higher at the mention of Nala.

 “Do you have dogs of your own?” Jaehyun asks, not recalling seeing any pets in Johnny’s photos.

 “I did, back when I was a kid, but he passed away from old age, and I haven’t been able to bring myself to committing to another one since. But I do love them. What’s your pup’s name?”

 “She’s Nala,” Jaehyun says, opening up his gallery filled with videos and photos of the princess shih tzu. “She was a rescue, the runt of her litter. She’s my pride and joy.”

 Johnny takes his phone from him to watch a video on loop of Nala running toward the camera and turning around to show her tail off. There’s a goofy smile on Johnny’s face, and Jaehyun is staring again. The violins he heard when he had first laid eyes on Johnny the other night are back, and they’re playing Vivaldi.

 There’s a little spot of food on Johnny’s chin, and Jaehyun is unconsciously reaching out to wipe it away with a tissue, and it makes Johnny look up at him.

 Johnny’s smile is slow in its ascent, the half-moons back.

 “I don’t want to be presumptuous here, Jaehyun, but is this a date? I’m asking because I’d very much like for it to be one,” Johnny says, and Jaehyun is flying. He’s flying. He’s never felt so light.

 “I— yeah, I had hoped that had been obvious,” Jaehyun says, rubbing his arm and ducking his head down shyly.

 Johnny laughs, and it’s Jaehyun’s new favourite sound in the world.

 -

 Jaehyun has a rule: he doesn’t kiss on the first date.

 Or, well, he did.

 It’s really not his fault that after dinner, it was obvious that neither of them wanted to part ways, but Jaehyun had to get home to Nala, and when Johnny perked up like a pup himself at the mention of the fuzzy menace, Jaehyun found himself mouthing off again and saying, “Do you… do you wanna come back to my place? To meet her?”

 Johnny had paid for dinner, and he had asked “is this okay?” as he put his hand on the small of Jaehyun’s back and they walked towards his car. Jaehyun nearly climbed him right then and there.

 Jaehyun had handed Johnny the auxiliary cable he kept hooked to his radio and said, “Go ahead, I wanna know what you’re into.”

 He had put on some Western artists, and Jaehyun had requested for the Honne song Johnny had covered.

 Johnny had sung along, his baritone voice soothing to Jaehyun on the drive home.

 When they arrived at Jaehyun’s door, Johnny’s hand still on the small of his back, Nala could be heard scratching at the door, her nose telling her someone apart from Jaehyun was in her presence.

 It was love at first sight, Jaehyun had thought, watching his little pet climb all over this giant he had invited into his home, this giant who was now sitting on his couch and letting Nala lick his entire face without any qualms.

 Sitting next to Johnny later, talking well into 2 in the morning, Nala sleeping soundly at Johnny’s feet, essentially made it impossible for Jaehyun to resist when Johnny had leaned in and whispered into his ear, “Can I kiss you?”

 It had shot a bolt of longing and lust inside of Jaehyun that he had not expected to hit him as strongly as it had.

 That’s how Jaehyun finds himself straddling Johnny’s lap, grinding into an erection that he himself is also sporting, sliding his lips over Johnny’s, devouring him like a starving man.

 Johnny’s tongue is running over his bottom lip, which is caught between Johnny’s teeth, and it makes Jaehyun moan so loudly that Nala wakes up and pounces onto the couch, barking at them.

 “I think she thinks I’m attacking you,” Jaehyun says, breathless, pulling away as Johnny chases him, latching his lips onto Jaehyun’s neck and sliding his tongue over a pulse point. “I think she’s protective of you now, too.”

 “Guess I’m just gonna have to stick around then,” Johnny laughs, and Jaehyun looks him in the eye, and slaps him on the shoulder for being cheeky.

 “When did you get so cocky, huh?” Jaehyun laughs, before it turns into a groan, because Johnny takes him by the hips and grinds up into him, and says, “About ten minutes ago.”

 “You’re awful, you’re really so very—“

 Johnny cuts him off with another kiss.

 “I am not going to traumatise my baby girl so let’s move to the bedroom right now,” Jaehyun says, gasping after wrenching himself from Johnny's greedy kisses, and pulling him by the wrist, the taller man stumbling and giggling after him.

 -

Jungwoo is sitting at his desk when Jaehyun’s call comes through, sheet mask in place just as the video starts up.

 “Hey baby, miss me?” Jungwoo says, squinting to see where Jaehyun is calling from. He appears to be out on the street, his AirPods peeking through his hair.

 “Hey Woo, how are you?” Jaehyun says, his breath coming up in little puffs. It’s an oddly cold night for May, and he’s walking home from the flower shop round his corner, peat-free soil in his canvas bag for Ben and Lulu-- his plants.

 “I’m grumpy, I’ve gained weight, and I haven’t slept in three days. Tell me again why I thought going for a PhD was a good idea?” Jungwoo says, resting his cheek on his hand.

 “You said you wanted people to call you ‘doctor’, and then applied for the program. I’m honestly still as confused as you are,” Jaehyun replies.

 “Eugh,” Jungwoo says. “Anyway, what’s up? Why’d you call?”

 “I just wanted to share a bit of news,” Jaehyun says. “I’m seeing someone.”

 Jungwoo sits up in his chair, leaning closer to his laptop’s camera.

 “For how long? Why am I only hearing about this now?” Jungwoo’s raising his voice a bit, and Jaehyun works to placate him immediately.

 “Will you calm down, oh my god,” he says, chuckling softly at his ex-boyfriend. “It’s only been three days, okay. His name’s Johnny Suh, he’s six foot like, 2 or 3 maybe, I come up to about his lips, and he makes me really happy.”

 Jungwoo is looking at Jaehyun softly, goofy smile in place.

 “Oh baby, I’m so happy for you,” Jungwoo says. “Does he know about me? Oh my god, does he know about Doyoung? And Yuta?”

 “Thank you for listing down the fact that I am unable to not be friends with my exes,” Jaehyun says sarcastically, but it’s without any vitriol. It’s actually something Jaehyun takes pride in, that he’s been able to work it out with everyone to the point where friendships didn’t have to take the back seat or get lost on the wayside because of a kiss or a fuck. He knows it isn’t for everyone though.

 “I haven’t told him yet, but I will,” Jaehyun says. “I want a clean slate you know, but I also want to give him a way out if he realises that being with me means being friends with you guys. If he isn’t comfortable with that, then that’s a sign that it isn’t gonna work out, right?”

 “Well, not everyone can get with that setup, baby,” Jungwoo replies. “Oh no, am I gonna have to stop calling you baby?”

 “I highly doubt that,” Jaehyun says. “Johnny doesn’t seem like the type. He really listens, Woo. Like, no offense to you at all--”

 “Please, please do not apologize--”

 “Okay, fine, anyway, he just. He’s got such a warm personality. And he’s really, really fucking smart. He reads so much, and he’s clever, and he’s talented--”

 “You sound pretty head over heels there, Yoonoh,” Jungwoo says, his voice small but clear. “Look it, too. You wear being in love really well.”

 “I am not in love, Woo, it’s only been three days,” Jaehyun says, making his way up his apartment stairs so as not to lose the connection of the call in the elevator.

 “Sure, if you say so,” Jungwoo laughs.

 -

Lucas and Mark invite them over to their place 2 weeks after Jaehyun and Johnny first start dating, and it’s a fairly packed party on their apartment’s rooftop, with everyone milling about and making small talk while the couple entertains from little group to little group.

 There’s a bar on the far side of the square patch of grass that currently houses several tall cocktail tables, and Yuta waves them over, Sicheng’s arm slung over his shoulders.

 “Hey Jae,” Yuta says, looking a little bewildered at the 6 foot something standing with his hand in Jaehyun’s. “Care to make introductions?”

 “Yuta, this is Johnny Suh,” Jaehyun says, and Johnny gently squeezes Jaehyun’s hand before extricating it to reach out and shake Yuta’s hand with the same solid, firm handshake he had given Jaehyun the first night they met.

 “He’s my— uh—“

 “We’re seeing each other,” Johnny says, catching Jaehyun’s hesitation, touching his hand to Jaehyun’s as a way of asking if that was okay.

 Yuta lights up, and Sicheng says, “Our Jaehyunnie finally seeing someone again? You must be really special, Johnny,” and Jaehyun laughs nervously.

 “He couldn’t resist my charms, really,” Johnny says, and winks at Jaehyun, who swoons a bit.

 Yuta instantly likes Johnny. Sicheng takes a while before he cracks a smile in his direction, but Johnny wins him over when they get to the topic of Planned Parenthood and ‘Kim Ji-young, Born 1982’, and that’s when Jaehyun realises that he is now dating a gorgeous feminist who is out and open about who he is and again, he falls and falls and falls.

 Mark watches the exchange from the corner of his eye, trying very hard to concentrate on his former boss singing his praises and talking about how much Mark will be missed in the office but failing because Jaehyun, someone who he never got a chance to get to know well, but someone Mark still cares about, especially since he’s been such a good friend to Lucas, is smiling with Johnny’s arm around him and Mark thinks, “Yeah, I did good.”

 Lucas catches his fiancée by the waist a short while later, and brings him over to where Jaehyun and Johnny are stood by the bar. Johnny’s on his third glass of whiskey and Jaehyun’s on his second beer, and he’s pleasantly flushed in the cheeks when Lucas taps him on the back.

 “Lucas! My man!” Jaehyun says, throwing his arms around Lucas’s tall frame and then moving over to Mark, who pats Jaehyun’s hair somewhat before he pulls away.

 “Hey Johnny,” Mark says, slipping into English. “How’re things going at the gym?”

 Jaehyun knows that Mark and Johnny know each other from when they both studied abroad, which is how Mark had suggested to Lucas that they take on Johnny to fill his position at the gym when he caught wind of Johnny moving into the city. Jaehyun doesn’t miss the little eyebrow wiggle Lucas gives him when the younger man’s eyes slide over to the hand he has around Johnny’s waist. Jaehyun rolls his eyes, and sticks his tongue out at him.

 “It’s been good, it’s been really good,” Johnny says, taking a sip from his drink. “It’s only been like, 2 weeks or so, but the other trainers have been really friendly. I’ve got big shoes to fill though-- everyone misses this guy,” he adds, nudging Lucas in the ribs.

 “Ah, sorry, my heart called me to Vancouver and where my heart goes, the rest of me follows,” Lucas says dramatically, making kissy faces at Mark, whose nose scrunches up in feigned disgust before Lucas plants his lips on Mark’s temple with a wet smack.

 “Speaking of which, we’ve got a date set already,” Mark says. “We’ll be leaving on the 12th, and the wedding will be in November. Expect your invites in the mail. We’ll be sending just one invite to you guys. Someone’s gotta be someone’s plus one,” he adds, this time throwing a wink in Johnny’s direction.

 Jaehyun clams up a bit at that, thinking about how this relationship of theirs is still only just finding its legs. Two weeks seems too hasty to be thinking about destination weddings and future plans.

 But then he remembers that Johnny took the trash out this morning, and took Nala out to the park for the day while he was at work. Johnny had made them omelettes with just egg whites and some parmesan. Johnny had kissed him slow and deep before he left for the firm.

 It’s remarkable to Jaehyun, how easily he’s allowed himself to move his admittedly rigid routine to accommodate someone else, but even more astounding that Johnny has fit seamlessly into his life, and him into Johnny’s, so quickly.

 “We’ll be there,” Johnny promises Mark and Lucas, and Jaehyun, taking his hand, says, “Just tell us when we should book our flights.”

 - 

Jaehyun likes to think he’s a pretty healthy sort of guy. He and his boyfriend try to cut back on their sugar, he always makes sure to get vegetables and protein into their daily diet plans, and they always go to the gym.

 When Jaehyun introduces Johnny to Doyoung and Taeyong, they take to him like white on rice, and it makes Jaehyun’s heart swell, because Doyoung’s humour is dry, and Johnny’s is drier.

 Taeyong makes music and Johnny asks him for his Soundcloud and compliments him on his raps, but says that he prefers Taeyong’s singing voice, which makes Taeyong blush and makes Doyoung raise his eyebrow at Jaehyun from across the table as if to say, “You _cannot_ let go of this one.”

 Jaehyun, of course, has no intentions of doing so. Johnny's carved a space into his and Nala's life, easy like a wick through melted wax. There's no way he's letting him go now. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> My thank yous:
> 
> First, to my beloved Klo, who this Jaehyun is loosely based on, even though she says that Jaehyun is more me since I literally have a dog and am friends with my exes. Thank you for always betaing for me, even if it isn’t your fandom. I love you. 
> 
> Second, to Iz, who read this over when it was still at like half the length this is now, and left commentary that made me confident enough to portray Jaehyun like this. 
> 
> And lastly, to everyone who has stuck with my work so far, to the ones who retweet my links and give me feedback and to every single person who reads this whether you hit kudos or not. 
> 
> I hope this little thing can get you to smile even just for a few minutes. 😄
> 
> Find me at @johnnyseo_paws on twt and scream at me about NCT.


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